Electrically fired gun charger



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April 1959 G. H. BORNHEIM EI'AL 2,882,794

\ ELECTRICALLY FIRED GUN CHARGER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 20, 1957United States PatentO ELECTRICALLY FIRED GUN CHARGER George H. Bornheimand Herve J. Ouellette, Springfield, Mass., assignors to the UnitedStates of America as represented by the Secretary of the ArmyApplication March 20, 1957, Serial No. 647,456

3 Claims. (Cl. 89-1) (Granted under Title 35, US. Code (1952), see. 266)The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or forthe Government for governmental purposes without the payment of anyroyalty thereon.

Our invention relates to automatic guns having members with cartridgechambers and actuators for operation of the members and moreparticularly to a charger for operating the actuators. Such guns usuallyinclude a receiver, units disposed for recoil reciprocation thereon andprovided with chambers for cartridges, and actuators slidable withrespect to the recoil unit. The actuators are usually biased to batterypositions to retain the chambers in the battery stations thereof fordischarge of the cartridges therein, and are disposed for reciprocationto convey the chambers to the firing stations responsive to thedischarge.

Operation of such a gun ceases if a single cartridge fails to fire.Therefore, it is an object of our invention to provide a chargeremploying electrically-discharged blank cartridges for auxiliaryoperation of the actuator of the gun.

Another object of our invention is to provide such a charger having afixed drum with a plurality of chambers for discharge of the blankcartridges therein to operate the actuator.

A further object of our invention is to provide such a charger withmeans for serial discharge of the blank cartridges in the chambers.

A still futrher object of our invention is to provide means for sealingthe discharged gases from the remainder of the chambers.

Other aims and objects of our invention will appear from the followingexplanation.

In carrying out our invention, a charger is provided with a drum fixedto the receiver and provided with chambers for blank cartridges andindividual fixed firing pins projecting into the chambers for engagementwith the primers of the cartridges. The drum is electrically groundedand the charger includes a fixed collector ring for connection to thehigh side of an external electric circuit. A cover removably secured tothe drum for access to the chambers supports the firing pins and thecollector ring, and a rotor journaled in the cover includes an insulatedwiper arm for connection between the collector and the individual onesof the firing pins. A rotary solenoid device is also disposed in thecover, and the rotor and the solenoid device include a ratchet forrotation of the wiper into electrical contact with the firing pins forsuccessive discharge of the cartridges in the chambers responsive toimpulses from an external control circuit.

A disk mounted for rotation with the rotor includes an opening indexableinto axial alignment with the cartridge to be discharged through contactby the wiper arm to permit escape of the gases from the dischargetherethrough. Pressure of the escaping gases after passing through theopening forces the disk against the drum to close the remainder of thechambers and prevent escape of the discharge gases therethrough. Theescaped gases are directed through a dome secured to the drum to operiiCate a piston disposed for auxiliary engagement with the actuator.

For a more complete understanding, reference is directed to the followngdescription and the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is an elevational view, partly in section, of an automatic gunincorporating an embodiment of our invention;

Fig 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the charger 0 Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged exploded view of the charger;

Fig. 4 is a view along line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a view along line 55 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a view along line 66 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 7 is a view along line 7--7 of Fig. 2. 7

Accordingly, an automatic gun 12 is provided with a unit 14 disposed forrecoil on a receiver 15, a member 16 rotatably disposed on the recoilunit and provided with cartridge chambers rotatable to stationsincluding a firing station nearest recoil unit 14, and an actuator 22axially slidable with respect to the recoil unit. Actuator 22 is biasedto a battery position to retain the chambers in the firing station fordischarge of the cartridges, and the actuator is disposed forreciprocation responsive to the discharge of each cartridge to rotatemember 16 for sequentially indexing the chambers in the battery station.A cylinder 24 is secured to receiver 15 and provided with a piston 26having a stem 28 which is engageable with actuator 22 for actuationthereof.

It is readily apparent that failure of one of the cartridges to firestops the gun. Therefore, a charger 30 is provided for auxiliaryoperation of the actuator and includes a casing 32 secured to receiver12 and a drum 34 fixed in the casing. Chambers 36 are provided in drum34 for inclosing blank cartridges 38 and a cover 40 is removably se-'cured to the rear end of drum 34 for access to the chambers. Firing pins42 are mounted through a cylindrical anvil 41 transversely disposed incover 40 for respective electrical contact with the primers ofcartridges 38 in chambers 36.

A ring collector 44 is concentrically secured inside of cover 40, and ashaft 45 is supported by an axial hole through anvil 41. A rotor 46 ismounted to the forward end of shaft 45 for rotation therewith by meansof corresponding flats, and an insulated wiper 48 extends from suchrotor to make selective electrical connections between ring collector 44and the firing pins 42 when shaft 45 is rotated. Rotation of shaft 45between selective engagements of collector 44 with the firing pins 42 isprovided by a rotary solenoid 50 mounted to the rear end of cover 40 andthe ratchet engagement of a drive gear 52, mounted to the shaft of thesolenoid, which is actuated into spiral engagement with a driven gear 54mounted to the rear end of shaft 45. Whereby, rotor 46 is rotated tobring wiper 48 into contact with a succeeding one of the firing pins 42each time solenoid 50 is energized.

A shaft 56 is axially mounted through drum 34 and is joined to shaft 45for rotation thereby through suitable tongue and groove means. A disk 58is mounted to the forwardly projecting end of shaft 56 for rotationtherewith by means of corresponding flats, and such disk is providedwith a hole 60 which is alignable with successive ones of the chambers36 each time solenoid 50 is energized for passing gases from the alignedchamber when the cartridge 38 therein is discharged. Disk 58 and rotor46 are mounted to shaft 56 so that wiper 48 contacts the firing pin 42respective to one of the chambers 36 after hole 60 is aligned therewith,and so that such disk is pressed by the gases passing through the holeagainst the front face of drum 34 to seal the gases from the other onesof the chambers.

Mounted within the front end of casing 32 forwardly of disk 58 is a dome62 which is provided with bores 64,,

front ends of the chambers 36. The bores 64 converge to an axial outlet66 which is connected by a conduit 67 to cylinder 24 for passing gasesfrom the chambers 36 thereto. A vent 68 is provided to discharge thegases from cylinder 24 to the atmosphere after piston 26 is energized toactuate actuator 22.

Thus, when gun 12 stops, because of the failure of one of the cartridgestherein to fire, the electrical circuit leading to solenoid 50 and ringcollector 54 may be completed, whereby the solenoid is energized causingdrive gear 52 to mesh with driven gear 54 for rotation thereof throughthe angular pitch which separates the chambers 36 in drum 34. Whereby,disk 58 is rotated to align hole 60 therein with the succeeding one ofthe chambers 36 and rotor 46 is simultaneously rotated so that wiper 48thereon engages the firing pin 42 respective to such chamber todischarge the cartridge 38 therein after the hole aligns with thechamber. Disk 58 and wiper 48 are secured in index position through theratchet character of the gears 52 and 54 and the spiral action ofsolenoid 50. The gases from the discharge pass through hole 60 into thecommunicating one of the bores 64 and to cylinder 24 for actua tion ofpiston 26 against actuator 22 to rotate member 16 and index thesucceeding chamber therein in the firing station. If gun 12 does notcommence firing, the electrical circuit is opened permitting solenoid 50to return to normal position and is then completed whereby drive gear 52engages the succeeding teeth of driven gear 54 for rotation thereofanother pitch to fire the succeeding ones of the cartridges 38. This maybe continued until gun 12 commences firing or until all of thecartridges 38 in drum 34 have been discharged. It is advisable toprovide as many chambers 36 in drum 34 as there are chambers in member16 whereby such member may be rotated a complete revolution by auxiliarymeans.

Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described indetail herein, it is evident that many variations may be devised withinthe spirit and scope thereof and the following claims are intended toinclude such variations.

We claim:

1. In a gun having a firing station and including a car tridge carryingmember and an actuator reciprocably actuated through operation of thegun for rotating the member to index the cartridges carried therein inthe firing station and continuously discharge the gun, a charger toprovide auxiliary means for actuating the actuator including a pistonslidingly mounted in a cylinder for actuation against the actuator, adrum mounted against rotation within a case mounted to the gun andprovided with a plurality of chambers for receiving blank cartridges fordischarge therein, conduit means leading respectively from said chambersto said cylinder for operating said piston against the actuator foractuation thereof, electrically operated means for repeatinglydischarging successive ones of blank cartridges, and a rotatable memberjoined to said electrically operated means and disposed between saiddrum and said conduit means to provide selective communication betweenthe one of said chambers in said drum, wherein one of said blankcartridges is discharged, and said cylinder.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein said means for repeatingly dischargingsaid blank cartridges includes an anvil mounted adjacent the rear end ofsaid drum, firing pins mounted in said anvil respective to each of saidchambers for electrically contacting the primers of said blankcartridges received therein, a ring collector, a rotor for electricallyconnecting said ring collector to successive ones of said firing pins, asolenoid spirally actuated when energized, and ratchet gear means forconverting the spiral action of said solenoid to rotation of said rotorfor successive engagements with said firing pins and for securelyindexing said rotatable member with selected ones of said chambers.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein said rotatable means to provideselective communication between one of said chambers and said conduitincludes a disk connected to said gear means for rotation thereby withsaid rotor and operationally disposed between said drum and said conduitmeans, and a hole disposed through said disk for alignment with the oneof said chambers to be discharged to pass gases from the dischargetherethrough to said conduit means and against the front face of saiddisk for sealing the gases from the remainder of said chambers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

